I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2996 

To amend the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability 

Act of 2015 with respect to the protection of human rights and labor 

standards, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 23, 2019 

Mr. LEWIS (for himself, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Mr. 

MCGOVERN, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. RUSH, Ms. OMAR, Mr. 

COHEN, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. SUOZZI) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the 

Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and 

Accountability Act of 2015 with respect to the protection 

of human rights and labor standards, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Labor, Human, and 

5 Civil Rights Trade Policy Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The United States has played a leading role 

4 in developing global human rights standards since 

5 the inception of the country. 

6 (2) The first 10 amendments to the Constitu7 tion are among the guiding principles that helped 

8 develop the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

9 (3) First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt led the 

10 United States delegation and the United Nations in 

11 drafting the Universal Declaration of Human 

12 Rights. 

13 (4) December 10, 2018, marked the 70th anni14 versary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration 

15 of Human Rights. 

16 (5) The General Assembly of the United Na17 tions adopted the International Covenant on Eco18 nomic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Inter19 national Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 

20 1966. 

21 (6) The United Kingdom implemented the Slave 

22 Trade Act of 1807, setting a global precedent to23 wards the eventual abolishment of slavery in the 

24 Americas that the United States eventually followed. 


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1 (7) The world celebrated the 212th anniversary 

2 of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade on 

3 May 1, 2019. 

4 (8) On January 1, 2019, the United States rec5 ognized the 156th anniversary of the Emancipation 

6 Proclamation. 

7 (9) The United States has continuously enacted 

8 legislation and ratified amendments to the Constitu9 tion to improve the protections of the rights of all 

10 persons in the United States, including— 

11 (A) the 13th Amendment to the Constitu12 tion, ratified in 1865; 

13 (B) the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (14 Stat. 

14 27); 

15 (C) the 14th Amendment to the Constitu16 tion, ratified in 1868; 

17 (D) the 19th Amendment to the Constitu18 tion, ratified in 1920; 

19 (E) the Social Security Act of 1935 (42 

20 U.S.C. 301 et seq.); 

21 (F) the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 

22 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.); 

23 (G) the Housing Act of 1949 (63 Stat. 

24 413); 


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1 (H) the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (Public 

2 Law 88–38; 77 Stat. 56); 

3 (I) the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Public 

4 Law 88–352; 78 Stat. 241); 

5 (J) the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Public 

6 Law 89–110; 79 Stat. 437); 

7 (K) the Elementary and Secondary Edu8 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.); 

9 (L) the Age Discrimination in Employment 

10 Act of 1967 (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.); 

11 (M) the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assist12 ance Act of 1987 (42 U.S.C. 11301 et seq.); 

13 (N) the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 

14 1988 (Public Law 100–259; 102 Stat. 28); 

15 (O) the Americans with Disabilities Act of 

16 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.); 

17 (P) the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (Public 

18 Law 102–166; 105 Stat. 1071); 

19 (Q) the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, 

20 Coretta Scott King, Ce ́sar E. Cha ́vez, Barbara 

21 C. Jordan, William C. Vela ́squez, and Dr. Hec22 tor P. Garcia Voting Rights Act Reauthoriza23 tion and Amendments Act of 2006 (Public Law 

24 109–246; 120 Stat. 577); and 


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1 (R) the Matthew Shepard and James 

2 Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 

3 (Public Law 111–84; 123 Stat. 2835). 

4 (10) Labor, human, and civil rights standards 

5 and protections require constant review and atten6 tion. 

7 (11) The Millennium Development Goals of the 

8 United Nations set forth a 15-year plan to combat 

9 poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental 

10 degradation, and discrimination. 

11 (12) The 43rd General Assembly of the Organi12 zation of American States adopted the Inter-Amer13 ican Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimina14 tion and Related Forms of Intolerance on June 5, 

15 2013. 

16 (13) The Global Slavery Index estimates that as 

17 many as 45,800,000 people around the world were 

18 in some form of modern slavery in 2016. 

19 (14) The United States supported the adoption 

20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 

21 the United Nations General Assembly and has rati22 fied significant international human rights treaties, 

23 including the International Convention on the Elimi24 nation of Racism and Discrimination (November 20, 

25 1994), the International Convention on the PrevenVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2996.IH H2996

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1 tion and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Feb2 ruary 23, 1989), the International Convention 

3 against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or De4 grading Treatment or Punishment (November 20, 

5 1994), and the International Covenant on Civil and 

6 Political Rights (September 8, 1992). 

7 (15) The United States has ratified two of the 

8 eight fundamental conventions outlined by the Inter9 national Labor Organization, including the Conven10 tion (ILO 105) concerning the abolition of forced 

11 labor (September 25, 1992) and the Convention 

12 (ILO 182) concerning the prohibition and immediate 

13 action for the elimination of the worst forms of child 

14 labor (December 2, 2000). 

15 (16) The United States has also ratified the 

16 Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights 

17 of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitu18 tion and Child Pornography (January 23, 2003) and 

19 the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the 

20 Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children 

21 in Armed Conflicts (January 23, 2003). 

22 (17) The United States signed the Convention 

23 on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on July 

24 30, 2009. 


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1 (18) The United States is expected to be a re2 gional and global leader in the international civil and 

3 human rights movement, including by fighting dis4 crimination, xenophobia, human, labor, and civil 

5 rights abuses as a part of both domestic and foreign 

6 policy. 

7 (19) Throughout United States history, Con8 gress has addressed, debated, and advanced the pro9 tection of human rights through legislation relating 

10 to taxes and international trade. 

11 (20) On May 10, 2007, President George W. 

12 Bush negotiated an agreement with the leadership of 

13 the 110th Congress, which intended to strengthen 

14 labor, environmental, intellectual property, access to 

15 medicines, health, investment, government procure16 ment, and port security standards in United States 

17 trade agreements. 

18 (21) This bipartisan deal, referred to as the 

19 ‘‘May 10th Agreement’’, made significant progress 

20 in recognizing that human, labor, and civil rights 

21 must be an integral component of United States 

22 trade policy. 

23 (22) United States trade policy cannot be static 

24 in a changing global economy, and it is critical that 

25 United States trade policy proactively advance doVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2996.IH H2996

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1 mestic and global efforts to improve human, civil, 

2 and labor rights and conditions. 

3 (23) The trade negotiating objectives of the 

4 United States should also address current, emerging, 

5 and future attempts to undermine or fail to enhance 

6 the living, labor, civil, and human rights standards 

7 of the United States or its trading partners. 

8 SEC. 3. STRENGTHENING TRADE, LABOR, AND HUMAN 

9 RIGHTS. 

10 The Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and 

11 Accountability Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 4201 et seq.) is 

12 amended as follows: 

13 (1) In section 103(b)(3)— 

14 (A) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking 

15 ‘‘strictly’’; and 

16 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(C) For purposes of subparagraph (B)(ii), 

18 a provision may be necessary or appropriate, 

19 with respect to a trade agreement, if the provi20 sion addresses issues relating to a party to the 

21 agreement, such as human rights. 

22 ‘‘(D) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), 

23 the provisions of section 151 of the Trade Act 

24 of 1974 shall only apply to an implementing bill 

25 submitted for an agreement that— 


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1 ‘‘(i) achieves the principle negotiating 

2 objectives with respect to labor described 

3 in section 102(b)(10); 

4 ‘‘(ii) explicitly provides that, with re5 spect to any country that is a party to the 

6 agreement— 

7 ‘‘(I) any union in such country 

8 shall not be required to affiliate with 

9 any confederation and shall be free to 

10 form and affiliate with any vertical or 

11 horizontal workers organization, in12 cluding any confederation, sector13 wide, or industry-wide union of its 

14 own choosing; 

15 ‘‘(II) workers in such country 

16 shall have the right to freely form and 

17 join an autonomous and independent 

18 union of their choosing; 

19 ‘‘(III) any union in such country 

20 engaged in collective bargaining with 

21 an employer shall be required to dem22 onstrate majority support of that em23 ployer’s workers, on behalf of whom it 

24 is negotiating, prior to registration of 

25 any collective bargaining agreement; 


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1 ‘‘(IV) for purposes of the labor 

2 obligations in the agreement relating 

3 to procedural guarantees for labor law 

4 enforcement, any administrative, 

5 quasi-judicial, judicial, or labor tribu6 nals or boards composed of members 

7 with direct or indirect interest in mat8 ters before them shall not be consid9 ered impartial and independent; 

10 ‘‘(V) for purposes of evaluating 

11 any measures taken by a country to 

12 substantially reform its laws or insti13 tutions to comply with the core labor 

14 standards of the trade agreement, an 

15 independent panel of experts must 

16 regularly examine and publicly report 

17 on the implementation of such re18 forms, provide recommendations, and 

19 identify concerns relating to the com20 pliance of such country with its labor 

21 obligations under the agreement, 

22 based on input from the parties to the 

23 trade agreement, interested stake24 holders, and any other relevant infor25 mation and reporting; and 


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1 ‘‘(VI) if such independent panel 

2 determines that such country is not in 

3 compliance with its obligations, the 

4 determination shall be treated as an 

5 initial report of an arbitration panel 

6 under the trade agreement, and the 

7 matter shall be addressed in accord8 ance with the normal procedures laid 

9 out for such cases, including through 

10 an agreement to eliminate the noncon11 formity in the first instance or, as a 

12 last resort, to suspend benefits under 

13 the trade agreement; and 

14 ‘‘(iii) implements a trade agreement 

15 between parties that consistently dem16 onstrates respect for internationally recog17 nized human rights, as indicated through 

18 assessments such as the annual Country 

19 Reports on Human Rights Practices or the 

20 Trafficking in Persons Report, over a pe21 riod of at least ten years.’’. 

22 (2) In section 111— 

23 (A) by amending paragraph (7)(E) to read 

24 as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(E) the elimination of discrimination, in2 cluding discrimination on the basis of race, 

3 color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, 

4 religion, political opinion, national extraction, 

5 social origin, age, disability, HIV/AIDS status, 

6 engagement in organizing activities, or union 

7 membership, with respect to employment and 

8 occupation.’’; 

9 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (18) 

10 through (23) as paragraphs (19) through (24), 

11 respectively; and 

12 (C) by inserting after paragraph (17) the 

13 following: 

14 ‘‘(18) INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED HUMAN

15 RIGHTS.—The term ‘internationally recognized 

16 human rights’ means the rights stated in the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(A) The Universal Declaration of Human 

19 Rights. 

20 ‘‘(B) The International Covenant on Eco21 nomic, Social and Cultural Rights. 

22 ‘‘(C) The Convention on the Elimination of 

23 All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 

24 and its Optional Protocol. 


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1 ‘‘(D) The Convention on the Rights of the 

2 Child. 

3 ‘‘(E) The Convention on the Rights of Per4 sons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol. 

5 ‘‘(F) The Convention for the Protection of 

6 All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. 

7 ‘‘(G) The First Optional Protocol to the 

8 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 

9 ‘‘(H) The Optional Protocol to the Conven10 tion Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman 

11 or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.’’. 

Æ 


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